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Dementieva shown the door
India in B’desh
‘Hike award money for CWG winners’
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PCB to take up IPL snub with BCCI
IPL Snub: Pak panel cancels India visit
National rural games conclude
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Dementieva shown the door
Melbourne, January 20
Juan Martin Del Potro recovered from a set down to advance to the third round after surviving a marathon battle against James Blake. The fourth-seeded Del Potro had been in danger of becoming the highest-ranked men’s player to be eliminated before he rallied from a break down in the fifth set to take the match 6-4, 6-7, 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 in four hours, 17 minutes. Andy Murray stormed into the third round with a comfortable 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Marc Gicquel. Kim Clijsters too showed nerves of steel to come through a tough test and make third round alongside Svetlana Kuznetsova. Other top names also showed their mettle, including Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka and Li Na, who all made the second round as organisers cleared rain-delayed matches held over from Tuesday. Clijsters only conceded four games against her first round opponent but she was given a more thorough examination by Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn. The 26-year-old Belgian, who won the lead-up Brisbane International, eventually triumphed 6-3, 6-3, but it was harder than the score suggested for the 15th seed, now back full time after a break to start a family. Her serve was broken in each set before she dug deep to dispose of the Thai, playing in her 51st Grand Slam. Unlike the high-profile Clijsters, Russian third seed Kuznetsova is flying under the radar and looked impressive in her 6-2, 6-2 defeat of countrywoman Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Rafa Nadal dispelled any concerns over his fitness and form with an impressive second-round win over Lukas Lacko. The Spaniard showed he was starting to get back to his best with an effortless 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win. Fourth seed Wozniacki downed Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak 6-4, 6-2 to get her campaign off to a winning start. The Dane, who enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2009, winning three titles and finishing runner-up to Clijsters at the US Open, edged a tight first set but overpowered her opponent in the second. Belarussian seventh seed Victoria Azarenka blasted her way into the second round by crushing France’s Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-2, 6-0, Ninth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva also pushed on deeper into the tournament, sending Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova packing 6-2, 6-0. Safina, the second seed who was beaten in the final last year by Serena Williams, posted a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. In the men’s draw, 11th seed Fernando Gonzalez was the first man into the third round with his 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 win over Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan. Andy Roddick beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the third round. Somdev-Prakash advance
Somdev Devvarman and Prakash Amritraj fought their way into the second round of the men’s doubles event of the Australian Open but Rohan Bopanna’s challenge came to an end with a first round defeat here today. Wild card entrants Somdev and Prakash had to dig deep to beat Americans James Cerretani and Travis Rettenmaier 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 in their opening round at Melbourne Park. In contrast, Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi squandered one set lead to lose 6-4, 1-6, 6-7(6) to South African Rik De Voest and Scott Lipsky of the United States. —
Agencies |
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1st Test: Day 4 Bangladesh in tight spot
Chittagong, January 20 Pacemen Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma took one wicket apiece to leave Bangladesh facing a fight to save the match. Zaheer had opener Imrul Kayes caught by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik for one before Shahriar Nafees (21) pushed Sharma to Virender Sehwag in the gully. Tamim Iqbal (23) and Mohammad Ashraful (16) were the not-out batsmen when stumps were drawn. Earlier, the in-form Gambhir recorded his ninth test century and Vangipurappu Laxman added 69 not out. “I never thought I would get five centuries (in a row) and I haven’t played for it,” Gambhir told reporters. “My job is to go out there and keep scoring runs for the team. I think 415 is a very good target. We wanted to give our bowlers the best chance to win the test match and for that we have to give them sufficient time to get Bangladesh out.” Gambhir led run surge after they resumed on 122 for one and reached his ton in grand style, cracking Shakib for six over long-on. — Reuters Scoreboard
Fall of wickets: 1-90, 2-188, 3-233, 4-245, 5-272, 6-313, 7-362, 8-394. Bowling: Islam 15-0-87-1, Hossain 16-1-53-1, Rubel 15-0-94-1, Shakib 27-2-112-2, Mahmudullah 13-0-52-2, Ashraful 1-0-9-0. Bangladesh (2nd innings), Tamim not out 23, Imrul c Karthik b Khan 1, Shahriar c Sehwag b Sharma 21, Ashraful not out 16, Extras (b 4, lb 1, nb 1) 6, Total (2 wickets; 18 overs) 67, Fall of wickets:1-8, 2-47. Bowling Zaheer 8-3-34-1, Sreesanth 5-0-11-0, Ishant 4-1-7-1, Mishra 1-0-10-0. |
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‘Hike award money for CWG winners’
New Delhi, January 20 He said it was a retrograde step that the Sports Ministry, which awarded Rs 20 lakh (gold), Rs 15 lakh (silver) and Rs 10 lakh (bronze) for the medal winners of the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and Busan Asian Games, brought down the cash prizes for the medal winners of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games and the Doha Asian Games to Rs 10 lakh, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh respectively. He said in this way, the Government had deprived “our performer - sportspersons of about Rs 3-4 crores”. He said he had met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and requested him to substantially hike the cash prizes of the medals winners of the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games to Rs 50 lakh (gold), Rs 30 lakh (silver) and Rs 20 lakh (bronze), respectively. Prof Malhotra, who is also the senior vice-president of the Indian Olympic Association, said while India hauled a handsome number of 70 medals (30 gold, 21 silver and 19 bronze) at Manchester, the medal tally dropped to 50 (22, 17, 21) at the Melbourne CWG. He said out of the 670 crore sanctioned for the preparation of the Indian contingent for the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in China this year, much of the fund was expended for the Sports Authority of India centres, and very little money had percolated down for the preparation of the Indian contingent. He said the cost of the Commonwealth Games to the exchequer had been pegged from Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 18,000 crore and now at a staggering two billion dollars (Rs 80 crore). “Sadly, the Games, which are meant to showcase the brilliance of the sportspersons, seem to have become hostage to big construction companies, builders, hoteliers and middlemen”. He said the interest of the sportspersons had been pushed to the backburner as the Government was yet to clear the outstanding dues to those who had won medals in various international competitions. “The tragedy of Indian sports is that the sixth Pay Commission enhanced the pay scales of the employees considerably but prize money of the medal winners in international competitions have been reduced”, he pointed out. He said it was a sheer squandering of the public money that Rs 700 crores were being spent for the renovation of Connaught Place under the Commonwealth Games budget while Rs 1600 crore were being spent to connect the Games Village on the banks of the Yamuna river to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. He requested the Government to turn its attention on the preparation of the Indian contingent for the Games “because this is the chance for India to showcase its sporting prowess as the Chinese did it in Beijing (Olympics) and the Aussies did in Melbourne (Commonwealth Games)”. |
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PCB to take up IPL snub with BCCI
Karachi, January 20 “Now we don’t understand what happened because we did everything from our side including getting government clearance to allow our players to be eligible to play in the IPL,” he said. The PCB chief said after the auction he constantly tried to get in touch with Modi but his efforts went in vain. “He is not answering my calls. But we will take up the matter with the Indian board,” Butt said. Eleven Pakistan cricketers, including its Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Rana Naved and Umar Akmal had registered for the IPL auction but none of the eight IPL franchises bid for them. Disappointed at the way the players were snubbed by the IPL franchises, Pakistan great Javed Miandad has called on the ICC to take control of Twenty20 tournament. “It’s nothing less than humiliation, not only of our
cricketers but the whole nation,” Miandad, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s director of operations said. “When we call IPL an ICC approved tournament, it should mean that at least all the Test playing countries will get a substantial representation in the event.”— PTI |
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IPL Snub: Pak panel cancels India visit
Islamabad, January 20 Leader of Opposition Nisar Ali Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) also demanded an immediate ban on the screening of Indian movies in Pakistan. He declared that the PML-N would not be part of the delegation, following which Mirza announced that the visit had already been called off. Pakistanis reacted with anger after all the 11 players were ignored by the IPL bidders, with Sports Minister Ejaz Jhakhrani speaking to his Indian counterpart but being told there was noting the government could do. Disappointed Pakistani players and a section of the country's political establishment called it a "conspiracy" by India to keep out the Pakistanis from the tournament. Quoting sources, Online news agency said that Jhakhrani told Indian Sports Minister M.S. Gill that it was "utterly disappointing that not a single Pakistani was auctioned for the cash lucrative IPL", adding that "such decisions in the field of sports are contradictory and hard to understand". On his part, Gill made it clear to Jhakhrani that the Indian sports ministry had nothing to do with the IPL and that since it was a commercial venture, the government could not interfere in the matter. PCB welcomes decision
Karachi: The treatment meted out to Pakistani cricketers in the IPL III auction has ignited a widespread reaction from across the nation with PCB chairman Ejaz Butt welcoming the National Assembly speaker's decision of not sending any parliamentary delegation to India. "I thank the Speaker and the August house for the solidarity shown with our players," Butt said in a statement. "This decision will show the world that we support our national heroes and that we stand together as a nation," he said. PML-N to boycott visits to India
Islamabad: Stung by the perceived IPL snub to the Pakistani cricketers, the main opposition PML-N MPs today decided to boycott any official visits to New Delhi and asked the government to snap all sporting ties with India. Senior PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who is also Leader of Opposition, announced his party's stance while speaking in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament. He said no
PML-N leader would travel to India with an official delegation till the neighbouring country "changes its attitude" towards Pakistan. Khan called on the government to boycott all sports activities with India. He also called for the banning of Indian films in Pakistan. Diplomatic sources said no Pakistani parliamentary delegation is scheduled to visit India in the near future. —
Agencies |
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National rural games conclude
Anandpur Sahib, January 20 The third place went to Andhra Pradesh that defeated Karnataka by 20-10 points. Punjab girls defeated Andhra Pradesh 6-2. Maharashtra won bronze by defeating its rival team Gujarat in a one sided match by 15-2 points Punjab bagged gold in one sided boys Volleyball final as the host routed Haryana in straight sets 3-0. For the third and fourth position, Kerala beat Karnataka by 3-1. Punjab girls also won gold in volleyball defeating Gujarat in an easy going match by 3-0 where as Haryana defeated Karnataka for the bronze by 3-0. |
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Melbourne, January 20
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Anandpur Sahib, January 20
